Smoke-filled rooms : the EU tobacco products directive and the tobacco lobby

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to examine the lobbying campaign which sought to influence the European Union institutions during the formulation of the 2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive, or TPD (a Directive regulating the manufacture, sale and consumption of tobacco products in the EU member states). The dissertation focuses in particular on the activities of pro-tobacco lobbyists, whilst also examining the activities of anti-tobacco lobbyists. The three research questions are thus, ‘What lobbying actors participated in the TPD campaign?’, ‘How did the lobbying actors involved act to further their goals?’ and ‘To what extent did the lobbying actors, on both sides of the debate, succeed or fail in influencing the policy outcome in the final text of the TPD?’ The first and second questions are answered by reviewing, respectively, the amount of money spent lobbying the institutions in the case of the former, and the methods used by lobbying actors in the case of the latter. As befits the nature of the questions, the first is answered by a quantitative review of declared lobbying costs by groups lobbying on tobacco policy; the second through a qualitative assessment of available literature, official documentation and journalism on how lobbyists acted to further their goals. The third question constitutes the analytical question, and seeks to answer to what extent the resources spent (first question) and the methods used (second question) by lobbyists led to success or failure in influencing the final Tobacco Products Directive. The analysis is carried out through a qualitative assessment, involving a close textual analysis of the actual Directive and available documents showing the objectives of the pro- and anti-tobacco lobbies. The assessment discusses whether nine key issues related to tobacco policy outcome went the way of the pro-tobacco lobby, the anti-tobacco lobby or neither. Based on the findings gathered in answering the first two questions, and the analysis carried out in answering the third question, the dissertation finds that the lobbying campaign surrounding the TPD resulted overall in a victory for the pro-tobacco lobby, even if they did not succeed in achieving all of their objectives. The dissertation conclusion goes on to discuss briefly some potential policy prescriptions in terms of the regulation of EU lobbying and possibly avenues for future study on this subject.